Vyalar Ravi and the Temple Entry Issue
The issue of the purification ritual conducted by the Guruvayur temple priests is hotting up in Kerala. See the Link here.
The Guruvayur temple board seems to be going overboard on this. What right do they have to demand a certificate proving oneself to be a Hindu from someone who openly admits that he is one?
It is such thinking that had put India back culturally when the West was going through the renaissance. I remember an instance narrated to me by a Kashmiri friend who told me about a group of muslim families who went to the Priests at Srinagar in the early 19th century asking to be reconverted to the Hind faith saying that they were Hindu several generations back. The Priests refused saying that once out of the faith always out. Contrast this with the Jewish resurgence in Israel where 'marranos' are being welcomed back, though not always with open arms.
This mentality of the Guruvayur temple must cahange otherwise they muct accept a situation where power is wrested from their hands and temporal authority over the temple given back to the state government.